Another TW/NW question

[JHines]

I would like to hear from those of you who have stick time in both NW and TW versions of the the same RV (preferably a side-by-side model).

I'm going to start with the premise that, all other things being equal, including the pilot, the highest crosswind a plane can possibly handle (I'll define that as T/O or LDG in one piece) is higher for a NW. I think that would be a generally accepted statement.

My specific question is, can anybody quantify the difference? What do your GO/NO-GO wind limits look like for a TW?

My missions will include hard IFR, and of course, when it's IMC, it's often windy as well. To me, that makes the NW a better choice (plus I have no TW time). But now, all the nose strut breaking/pole-vaulting threads have got me partly spooked.

[akarmy]

Originally Posted by JHines

I'm going to start with the premise that, all other things being equal, including the pilot, the highest crosswind a plane can possibly handle (I'll define that as T/O or LDG in one piece) is higher for a NW. I think that would be a generally accepted statement.

Here's the deal. I very much doubt you will get agreement that this is a "generally accepted statement". So that out of the way I have a couple of quick points.

First, I think you have to drop the nose gears fold so I should run from them even with no time in type on a TD. Both types of gear have their issues and perfectly skilled and qualified pilots have issues at times with each setup. Yes we have seen plenty of nose gear issues recently. I also have seen plenty of TW ground loops in the reports also. There have even been some high profile ones on this board.

Ok, now time for my story. I have 560 hours in my 9A and about 800 hours TT. Last year on our way back from LOE on our way home to Seattle we had a flight of 2 planes traveling together. One an RV7 TD and the other a RV9A ND. Our days flying left Albuquerque NM heading for an evening stop in Novato CA. It took all day, and arriving at the end of the day, just as the sun was setting behind the hills outside of San Francisco we got to Gnoss field. Winds were 90deg (as they usually are there) at 18-22kts.

My friend Jim with many many thousands of hours of military / testpilot / and other types was flying the 7 and in lead. I watched him dance on the runway ahead of me and land just fine. I came in behind in the 9A and also landed just fine. Proving to me that both planes can handle the conditions. Me having the choice in that situation would take the 9A any day!

If you are running from an accident, good luck. If you really want one vs the other, then by all means build what you want and get the training and experience to be safe with it!

[JHines]

Here's the way I'm looking at it:

TWs have a known propensity to ground loop if treated to side loads - it's the simple physics of the CG being aft of the main gear. As far as I've read, heard, etc. RV's are no worse than any other type in this respect. One guards against this by proper training, practice, and operating limits.

NWs in general do not suffer from this problem, and while it's bad piloting, they will put up with crabbing w/o disastrous results. Again, simple physics.

Here's my concern: RV ND's might have a greater than average propensity to fold up NG and/or flip over. OK, fine, treat the nose wheel with caution and respect. However, this might happen under "surprising", poorly-defined conditions, like turtle-slow speeds, tiny chuckholes, etc. etc. I guess I need to go back and re-read those threads. There is a lot of supposition and little hard statstical data.

If that's true, though, and the TW crosswind limits are high enough, It would be worth it to me to go through the trouble of getting the TW training and sign-off. I'd rather have the known risk than the unknown risk.

It sounds like from your experience both have pretty high limits; maybe the risk of a T/O or LDG accident is not different enough to affect the decision...